Strange Visitors
by Zathara001
Summary: While recovering from his bout with the plague, Tony DiNozzo receives some strange visitors.
1. Chapter 1

So… this is what happens when I get bored at work. I have no idea if I'll ever come back to it, but for now, I hope you enjoy this little glimpse into a might-have-been.

Continuity: Takes place after _Star Trek_ (2009 reboot) and between NCIS season 2, episode 22, _SWAK_ and season 2, episode 23, _Twilight_.

While recovering from his bout with the plague, Tony DiNozzo receives some strange visitors.

The knock on Tony DiNozzo's apartment door didn't surprise him. In the wake of his throwdown with _Y. pestis_ , he'd had more visits than he could count - Kate, unsurprisingly, came by every evening. Tim had come by once. Ducky and Jimmy alternated days according to some schedule Tony was certain they'd worked out. Abby came once, and Tony was pretty sure Gibbs had only come because she'd dragged him.

The visits were almost more of a pest than the _pestis_ , and this was only a week after his release. Tony didn't want to think about how many more visits he might have before he got back to work.

For a moment he debated not answering the door. Just as he'd decided the visit would be less effort than dealing with whoever was on the other side of the door if he didn't answer, the knock sounded again.

That decided him - none of his visitors, except maybe Jimmy, were the kind to give up and go away if he didn't answer. With a groan, Tony heaved himself off his sofa, leaving the movie he'd been watching, _Back to the Future_ , running in the background.

It said a lot about his frame of mind that he violated one of his own private rules by opening the door without checking to see who stood on the other side.

He wasn't prepared for the two men facing him, strangers, one dark haired and dark eyed with oddly slanted eyebrows, the other a dark blonde with blue eyes and a ready grin. Both of them were bundled up a little more than Tony would have expected for late spring in D.C.

Normally, Tony would take two against one odds, but he wasn't anywhere near his best right now, so he summoned a smile and wished he had his service weapon handy.

"Hi," he said. "New to the building?"

"Not exactly," Blue Eyes said. "Anthony DiNozzo?"

He gave it the Italian pronunciation, and Tony thought he'd be fully justified in saying, nope, nobody here by that name, but something about these two men tickled his awareness, and, well, he'd never been overly-cautious.

"DiNozzo." He gave the correct pronunciation. "Why?"

Blue Eyes glanced around. "This is a conversation best had in private. May we - hey, is that _Back to the Future_?"

And then he was pushing past Tony in the politest possible way, his expression eager, and somehow Tony didn't read his actions as a threat.

"My apologies." The other man had an odd accent to go with his odd eyebrows. "The captain is sometimes more enthusiastic than polite."

"It's _Back to the Future_ ," Tony said. "Enthusiasm's almost required."

Then he stepped back to let Eyebrows in and closed the door. He stayed close to it, though, watching his visitors.

Blue Eyes had crossed to the TV and stared at it with an almost rapturous expression. Eyebrows studied the screen, his expression one of detached, even academic, interest. "Fascinating," he said.

Blue Eyes turned to him. "It's one of the classics of Early American Film, and all you can say is, fascinating?"

"If this were a social call, I would be pleased to offer more in-depth commentary, Captain," Eyebrows replied. "But it is not, and therefore wasting time is illogical."

"Um - time travelers," Blue Eyes said. "We have all the time in the world."

"Recorded by Louis Armstrong for the film _On Her Majesty's Secret Service_ ," Tony said, deliberately pulling their attention to him, and hoping that his voice held steady. Time travel? How was that even possible? He swallowed and added, "But one of you needs to explain exactly what's going on before I decide some of the drugs they've got me on are having even stranger side effects than usual."

"Right, sorry," Blue Eyes - whom the other man had called Captain, and Tony filed that away as important, even if he didn't know how - turned away from the television with obvious reluctance and met Tony's gaze squarely. "My name is James T. Kirk, and in the year 2258, I'm captain of the starship _Enterprise_. This is my first officer, Commander Spock."

Tony ran the words through his mind again, and once more, and concluded, "Bullshit."

Blue Eyes - Kirk, if that were really his name - laughed. "That's exactly what I said when a man claimed to be an older version of Spock from an alternate future."

Okay, Tony decided, they really had given him the good drugs. He'd have to call Dr. Pitt as soon as this hallucinatory episode wore off.

"But it was true then and it's true now," Kirk continued. "And we can prove it. Spock?"

Silently, Eyebrows - Spock - removed the knitted cap he wore, and Tony stared at the man's pointed ears. For the briefest of moments, his mother's voice came back to him. _It's not polite to stare._

Tony shook his head, and faced Kirk as though he were facing Gibbs. "That doesn't prove you're from the future. At best, it proves you have a fantastic makeup artist or maybe even a plastic surgeon. At worst, it proves he's not entirely human."

Spock raised one of those slanted eyebrows. "Why do you consider that the worst proof?"

"Because it means I picked the wrong career and should've been an astronaut," Tony replied.

"I told you he's the right one," Kirk said, a smug grin tugging at his mouth.

"The right one for what?" Tony asked. "Not that I believe anything you're saying, or that you're even real, but this hallucination or whatever is the most fun I've had in a week."

"Since you tore open an unaddressed envelope and managed to catch the plague," Kirk said.

"Nice use of detail," Tony said, "but I remember that, so of course I'd have it in my hallucination."

"What would convince you we speak the truth?" Spock asked.

"The usual," Tony replied. "Tell me who wins this year's World Series, or Super Bowl, or something."

"Unfortunately, that requires more time than we have," Spock replied.

"Um - you're the ones who claim to be time travelers," Tony reminded them. "All the time in the world, and all that?"

"What he means," Kirk said, "is that those events are weeks or months away, and while we can travel through time, we can't stay here that long. You're on medical leave for the next two weeks, which makes this the only time you can help us without being missed."

Tony reviewed that in his head. "Okay, that's not something I would have thought of, so … for now, let's roll with it, and say you are who you claim to be. What do you want with me?"

"We need your expertise," Kirk replied. "We - the _Enterprise_ and the Federation we represent - are involved in ongoing negotiations with -"

Tony cut him off. "Sum up?"

Kirk regarded him for a long moment before smiling grimly. "A member of the opposing diplomatic party has been killed, and we need an investigator."

"Wow, yeah," Tony muttered. "Definitely the good drugs. But … why me?"

"Each side proposed a list of investigators from their pasts," Spock answered. "The nominees were put to a vote, and you were selected."

"Terrific. So when do we leave, and what do I get for doing this?" In for a penny, in for a pound, Tony decided.

"We leave as soon as you secure your home," Spock said.

"And as for what you get - how about lungs that aren't decimated by _Y. pestis_?" Kirk asked.

"That's the best offer I've heard all day," Tony said. "Add an unblown knee and you're on."

"Done," Kirk said. "Lock up the place, and let's go."


	2. Chapter 2

NOTE:

In honor of the Chiefs' victory in Super Bowl LIV (hubby's from KC; rooting for them was required, even though I was a Niners girl back in the day...), have another chapter. ;)

Tony insisted on changing out of the T-shirt and sweats he'd been wearing before they left. Not that he had any idea what fashion in the future looked like (assuming this all wasn't a hallucination), but his own pride wouldn't let him depart wearing anything but his best.

Then again, Kirk had said they needed him as an investigator. Without any idea of what conditions he might face, and taking into account the somewhat casual feel of their uniforms, he mentally revised his "best" to allow for jeans instead of trousers and sturdy boots instead of shoes.

He was buttoning his shirt when the question occurred to him. When he left his bedroom, Kirk and Spock both were surveying his collection of movies.

"He has all the classics," Kirk was saying quietly. " _The Wizard of Oz_ , _Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,_ _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ , _Star Wars,_ _Pirates of the Caribbean_ …"

Wait, _Pirates of the Caribbean_ was a classic in the future? Tony shook his head, more and more convinced that they were telling the truth. His subconscious usually didn't give him weird scenarios like this. Jessica Alba on a beach, maybe, but not a visit from time travelers.

"I find it intriguing that he has had time to watch all of them, as well as accumulate a vast amount of related data, and still become an exemplary investigator," Spock observed.

That was too good an opening to pass up. "Like I always say, work smarter, not harder."

His visitors looked up at him, open curiosity in Kirk's expression where Spock simply raised one eyebrow in inquiry.

Tony shrugged. "I got a broken leg - and the bum knee - in a football game in college. I had a lot of time on my hands while I was recovering and watched a lot of movies then. The habit stuck."

"You're ready?" Kirk asked.

"I have one question," Tony said.

"Only one?" Kirk grinned.

"Only one important one," Tony allowed. "I've seen _Back to the Future_ and a dozen other movies involving time travel. How are you going to make sure I don't accidentally change the future? Your past - whatever you want to call it."

"Nothing too terrible," Kirk replied. "Just a post-hypnotic suggestion."

Tony nodded slowly. He'd been hypnotized before, as part of his therapy when he was recovering from that broken leg, and if hypnosis worked for that, it would probably work for this, too. "I suppose I can live with that. Let's go."

He crossed to the door and opened it, only to find the other two regarding him curiously. "What?"

"Your door needs only to be secured," Spock answered.

"Don't we have to go to your ship?" Tony asked.

"We will," Kirk answered. "But we don't have to go anywhere to do it. Lock the door and we'll show you."

Not bothering to hide his confusion, Tony closed the door and locked it, then followed Kirk's gesture so that he stood beside the other man.

Kirk pulled what looked like an old-fashioned flip-phone from his belt and opened it. "Kirk to _Enterprise_. Three to beam up."

Before Tony could wonder what _beam up_ actually meant, he felt a queasy, falling sensation in his stomach, and then a tingling throughout his body, as though he were near an electrical field.

Then everything went white and some indeterminate time later, Tony's awareness refocused on his surroundings - which included a room with metallic walls and an odd-looking workstation at his eleven o'clock position.

"What the hell -?" Tony couldn't help himself.

"Welcome to the _Enterprise_ ," Kirk said.

"What you are feeling is an expected sensation of the transporter technology," Spock added. "In humans, the symptoms typically subside within four point three minutes. If you still feel them after that time, inform us at once."

The queasiness was already fading, so Tony just nodded.

Spock shifted his attention to Kirk. "Captain?"

"Take us farther out," Kirk said. "Hide us among the Jovian satellites. I'll get Agent DiNozzo up to speed."

Spock raised an eyebrow, but said only, "Yes, Captain."

He inclined his head first to Kirk, then to Tony, and left the room they had arrived in.

"Someone's been killed, you said," Tony prompted.

"Yes," Kirk answered, gesturing Tony to walk with him, "but before we do that, we need to stop by Medbay. You need a couple of inoculations."

"I'm current," Tony began, but broke off when he caught Kirk's grin.

"No doubt," he said as the door slid open and Tony paced him into a corridor. "But I'm fairly certain you haven't been vaccinated against Rigellian fever."

"Ah - no," Tony agreed, then fell silent to study his new surroundings. The walls were a metallic silver-white and just dull enough not to reflect anything clearly. Here and there, access panels or display monitors dotted the walls.

"This must seem strange to you," Kirk said after a few minutes, during which Tony realized the corridor they paced had a slight curve to it.

"Not that strange," Tony answered. "I've been on subs and aircraft carriers, and this isn't too different from them."

"Not surprising," Kirk said, pausing at a door. "We - Starfleet - descended from Earth's naval traditions."

A moment later, the door opened, and Tony guessed the small room beyond was an elevator of some kind. The hunch was confirmed when the doors slid shut, Kirk touched a control, and the room started to move.

"I don't see any markers to tell you where you are - deck, frame, compartment - though," Tony added. "How big is she?"

"A little over twice the size of an aircraft carrier, overall," Kirk replied. "This section is about half an aircraft carrier in diameter."

The doors slid open and Tony obediently followed Kirk out of the elevator. "And you're not going to tell me how to navigate it."

"Nope, sorry." Kirk grinned to rob the words of any offense. "You won't be going anywhere without an escort."

"Fair enough."

A few feet later, Kirk led him into what Tony immediately recognized as a sickbay. A dark-haired man about Tony's own height looked up from a supply cabinet.

"Dammit, Jim," he said with a clear Southern drawl - Georgia, if Tony wasn't mistaken, "what've you gotten us into now?"

"I'm trying to get us out of a diplomatic incident and avert a war, Bones," Kirk replied. "This is our investigator, Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, Junior. Agent DiNozzo, our chief medical officer, Doctor Leonard McCoy."

"Tony, please," he said, glancing first at Kirk then McCoy.

"You don't look injured," McCoy said.

"He's recovering from _Y. pestis,_ " Kirk said. "And has a damaged knee. I'm sorry - which knee?"

"Left," Tony supplied.

"Plus the usual inoculations," Kirk finished. "And then we'll be out of your hair."

"Fine," McCoy said with a grumble that seemed to be exaggerated. He gestured to a bed with a monitor at its head. "Up you go."

Tony hesitated. "Don't I need to undress?"

"We're not barbarians," McCoy shot back. "On the table, and it'll all be over with before you know it."

It wasn't _quite_ before Tony knew it, but it was certainly faster than he'd ever expected.

Despite McCoy's admonishment, he slipped his jacket off and put it over a nearby chair before he got on the bed. While he'd been doing that, McCoy had been fiddling with something at a table not far away.

He came back to Tony's bedside with something that looked like a cross between a needle gun and a flashlight in his hand, but McCoy wasn't looking at him. Instead he was looking at the monitor over Tony's head.

"Lie back," McCoy ordered, and Tony did. Like every hospital bed he'd ever been in, this one was only slightly more comfortable than a carpeted floor.

He supposed he should be pleased that not _everything_ had changed in the future.

McCoy made another adjustment to the device he held, then pressed it against Tony's carotid artery. A minute later, Tony felt a sharp stinging sensation, and he clenched his teeth to keep from crying out.

"Broad-spectrum antibiotic, standard inoculations, and an immunity booster that should kick the last of the _Y. pestis_ out of your system," McCoy said. "Now for the knee."

McCoy picked up another handheld device - it could've been a flashlight, or it could've been an ultrasound probe for all Tony knew - and ran its business end all around his left knee twice, then once around his right.

"Bones?" Kirk asked.

"I'm a doctor, not a diplomat," McCoy replied. "The left knee had signs of lingering trauma, but the right knee wasn't completely healthy. It is now. Bend and stretch them both," he added to Tony.

Tony extended each leg in turn, flexing his feet and pointing his toes, rotating his feet in each direction.

"Feels great. Thanks," he added with as much sincerity as he could muster.

"Stop back by before you leave," McCoy said. "I'll run a second scan to make sure everything's healing like it should."

He turned back to whatever he'd been doing when Tony came in, and Tony looked to Kirk for some idea what to do next.

"C'mon," Kirk said. "Let's go beard the lion in its den."


End file.
